A 2005 UCT Graduate School of Business study The Poor Philanthropist has forced a rethink of traditional forms of philanthropy based on vertical resource flows and sparked a series of world-wide dialogues on the roles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), private banking and, more recently, the value of dialogue between business and community-based organisations (CBOs) before splashing out.

At a recent dialogue organised by the The Synergos Institute in Cape Town in July, regional programme officer Adele Wildschut said that pressing causes often fell through the philanthropy net. CBOs – informally structured organisations at grassroots levels – played a crucial role in the fight to end to poverty, but often faced severe difficulties in accessing resources and support.

Part of the reason was that CSR traditionally fell into areas like educational bursaries, and there were no natural points of contact between corporates and the CBO sector, she said. “As much as a gap exists between corporates and CBOs, the sector also has something to offer corporates as they have experience in working cooperatively and managing complex variables.”